The Murder in the Birthday Party
Chapter 1
"Booth come on, if we don't hurry we'll be late for Michael's party!" Brennan called as she was packing Christine's baby bag for the day. It was the day of Michael Hodgins' first birthday party and the first party that Christine would attend.
"I'll be right down I just have to find my other shoe." He replied while frantically trying to locate his missing shoe.
"He always loses his shoes Bones." Parker said while playing with his cooing sister in her rocker.
"You would have never lost it if you would just organize your shoes properly on the shoe rack in the closet." Brennan replied a little annoyed. She enjoyed living with Booth but in every relationship there are one or two qualities in each partner that irritates the other. For Brennan, it would be Booth's disorganization.
"I didn't lose it, I just misplaced it." He stated, "Yes! I found it!" He said with relief and then fumbled to place it on his foot, "You see Bones, that didn't take too long." He said with a smug look on his face while walking down the stairs.
"It took longer than it should have." She said while draping the baby bag on her shoulder, "Can you put Christine in the car please?"
"Sure Bones, come on Chrissy, let's go to Mikey's party." He said while lifting her out of her rocker and then held her gently in his arms while following Brennan and Parker out to the car. Christine was attired in a cute pink dress that allowed for her chubby legs to be shown as well as a little pink hat with her light brown curls sticking out of it. Her big blue eyes shimmered in the sunlight and she looked just like her mother. Michael and Christine were familiar with each other because Angela and Brennan would allow them to play with each other during the week and sometimes on weekends but the two babies were always together at the Jeffersonian daycare.
Booth strapped Christine in her car seat beside Parker and took his seat behind the wheel with Brennan sitting beside him in the passenger's seat. They drove to the venue of the party which was a children's petting zoo that Hodgins rented out for the day. Michael seemed to have an interest in animals so Angela's decision to have the party at a petting zoo was perfect. Angela planned this day for a long time and she wanted everything to run smoothly as it was a day that she would tell her son about when he grows up.
When they arrived at the petting zoo they were quickly greeted by Angela. The venue was beautifully decorated with many colorful balloons and other decorative items that would be appealing to children. There was a few of the kids from daycare and their parents in attendance as well as Angela's father, Cam, Sweets and Wendell. Some of the kids were playing with the chicks in a section of the zoo while others were taking turns riding a pony with their parent by their side ensuring that they would not fall off. Angela also set up a table that had crayons and coloring books resting on it, waiting for some kid to begin using them.
"Hey guys!" Angela said happily and began to hug them all one by one, "Hey Parker, there's some snacks set up on that table over there." She said while pointing towards the snack table, "go help yourself."
"Thanks! I'll be over there dad okay." Parker said waiting on his father's 'go ahead'.
"Sure Parks, have fun." He said before ruffling his curly blonde hair.
"Here, I'll take Christine over to Michael; he's playing with the little chicks. They are so cute Bren, I might just take them all home with me if Mikey doesn't." Angela said while taking Christine from Brennan.
"Will you keep an eye on her, just to make sure she doesn't get hurt?" Brennan asked with a worried expression on her face.
"Don't worry Sweetie, I hired a few nannies to take care of the kids so that us adults can have fun too." Angela said while pointing towards the bar filled to the brim with alcoholic beverages.
"Hey guys, I'm glad you could make it." Hodgins said as he walked towards his friends, holding a beverage in his hand.
"I'll take Christine over to Michael now." Angela excused herself.
"I can't believe Michael is one now Hodgins, it seems like it was just yesterday he was born." Booth said.
"I know man, pretty soon little Christine is going to be one. They grow up so fast."
"Yes they do, Christine has increased in height and body mass quite rapidly. Her fine motor skills are also developing quite quickly. As for Michael, he seems to be walking quite well now."
"Yeah, he's…" Hodgins started but then noticed Angela's father walking towards him, "Excuse me guys, I have to, to go somewhere that's not here… Bye!" He said before running away.
"Well it's just you and me now Bones."
The party was going well. The kids were occupied with the various activities that Angela planned so the adults left them in the care of the nannies so that they could enjoy themselves at the bar. Parker was intrigued by the animals so spent a lot of time petting them and introducing some of the animals to Christine. Michael was unaware that it was his birthday but he was enjoying himself with the baby ducks. Angela was overjoyed because everything was running smoothly. It seemed as if all her months of planning were paying off.
"Dad." Parker said while trying to get his father's attention.
"Sorry guys, excuse me." Booth said to the group of people he was speaking to at the moment, "What's wrong bub? Are you having fun?"
"Yeah, this party is really cool but, when I went over to the barn to see if any horses were in there, I smelt something weird. It was so gross, like someone took a squat over there or something. I just wanted to tell you so that you can tell Angela because it smells so bad dad. As soon as I smelt it I ran away! I wanted to hurl."
"Okay, thanks for telling me Parks, I'll go check it out with Bones before I tell Angela."
"Okay, I'm going to ride the pony again."
"Have fun." He said before turning to Brennan, "Bones, follow me to the barn for a second."
"Why? What's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing, it's just that Parker smelt something over there and I just want to make sure that he smelt shit and not something else that could ruin this day."
"Umm, okay."
Brennan followed him over to the barn and smelt something like a rotting corpse. She noticed a few flies flying inside the barn towards the smell and decided to follow them.
"Bones, that smell smells all too familiar. You don't think that it's..."
"It is. It's a dead body." Brennan said standing over the corpse that was covered in slime, rodents, maggots and surrounded by flies.
"You gotta be kidding me." Booth said while looking at the corpse and wondering to himself why these things always happen at the wrong times but most of all, he was concerned with how this could affect the party and if the murderer was wandering about the party, among his kids.
"I'm not Booth. The victim is a Caucasian male, approximately five and a half feet tall. That's all I can determine right now." She said but then noticed something on ribs two, three and four, "The markings on these ribs, are stab wounds." She said pointing to the bones, "Booth, this is murder."
"Murder, at Angela's kid's birthday party?" He said with disbelief, "Bones this is a disaster."
"I agree but we have to solve this murder regardless of where we are, it's our job."
"I know Bones, I know. But Angela, she's going to be crushed. This is her kid's first birthday party. What if this was to happen at Christine's first birthday?"
"I wouldn't be pleased Booth but we have to identify the victim and find his killer. We need Angela to do help us do that. We need everybody."
"Okay Bones, fine. But how are we going to tell Angela?"
~To Be Continued~
